To say Bob McClure had a good year would be an understatement.
In 2016, he was named top driver at three racetracks, including his hometown Grand River Raceway.
He was also nominated for a Standardbred Canada 2016 O’Brien Award as top driver, winning 546 races and totalling $3 million in purses.
And just last week, on Feb. 15, he surpassed 1,500 career wins.
The Elora resident grew up in the horse world, with his father Lormer, a trainer, and his uncle Jim, a successful driver.
McClure, now 26, said when he started racing at age 18 it was difficult. But having a foot in the door of the driving world helped him get onto the cart.
“When you’re starting out, you have to kind of put your time in … I was lucky,” said McClure, who added he has always had but one career path.
“I never had any interest in anything except driving,” he said.
“I guess it’s not quite as glorious as I thought it was going to be. It’s a lot more work than I thought it was going to be. I thought it was just a celebrity lifestyle, but I’m happy with what I do.”
McClure said it was not until 2014 that he started getting noticed.
“I started picking up more drives and more drives and then it was 2014 that really snowballed and I kind of came on the scene,” he said.
“When you’re starting out you’re obviously not doing a good job, you’re learning, but as I started to drive more, bigger names start to put you down.”
He explained that as he starting winning more often, he was selected to drive more horses for bigger barns.
“I’m at a point now where I’m more in demand than anything, so for every race I usually have one of the better horses. In that situation, you really just have to not screw up and just do a good job and be respectful,” he said with a laugh.
McClure noted that going from five or six years without a steady pay cheque to earning $3 million in 2016 winnings did not come easy.
“When I reflect back on it, it really makes you appreciate what you have now,” he said.
McClure told the Advertiser patience is what makes a good driver.
“When you’re young, just starting out and inexperienced, that’s the biggest thing you have to learn is being patient and not over-driving the horse because they have to go home well,” he said.
McClure has just five minutes or so prior to races to really get to know the horses he is driving.
“Horses are a lot quirkier than people … would ever realize. Some of them take a lot of finesse, some of them are like driving a car so you find that out,” he said.
For McClure, getting to the gate first is important to how he races.
“The majority of drivers, they like to bring their horses in a little bit later … every single race I want to be the first on the gate,” he said.
“I think some drivers can make horses do more than others … I don’t think it’s something you could teach or tell, I think it’s just something that some people can do.”
McClure recalls that his best and worst races happened within two weeks of one another.
In 2011, he had the opportunity to race Southwind Vavoom – a “really, really good horse,” McClure said – during a three-week series at Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey, a “mecca” for standardbred racing.
“(In the) second week of the three-race series I won with him and that was just unbelievable, being able to go down and win at the Meadowlands. I don’t know if I’ll ever get a chance to go back there, so that was great,” he said.
“In the final, I drove him bad. Being a kid, I drove him absolutely terrible and he got beat … in two weeks it was the best and the worst for me.”
McClure races seven days a week, which can be both physically and mentally draining.
“There’s also a very high mental strain from it … I think that’s what people don’t appreciate about it; the most is the mental fatigue that comes from driving,” he said.
To combat that, he says drivers have to rest up and take a vacation occasionally.
He added race schedules afford him lots of time to spend with his 16-month-old son Ryder.
“I get all day with him … I think I’m pretty lucky, I’m leaving at about four in the afternoon so I only miss three or four hours with him,” he said.
In 2017, McClure said he wants to grab top driver titles at all four racetracks at which he competes: Grand River, Flamboro Downs, Georgian Downs and Western Fair, where he just missed last year.
“And obviously win more than I won last year,” he added.
